WE MUST EXTEND A HAND OF HELP TO OUR ETHIOPIAN BRETHREN AT THE HOUR OF THEIR NEED
Ethiopia is in civil war. The central Ethiopian government is at war with the Ethiopians in the Tigrayan region, and this war is unfolding before our eyes as one of the major humanitarian crises that are witnessed by the world of today. We see the suffering of the Ethiopian refugees who are escaping the war and massacres and fleeing to Sudan as refugees. And the news T.V. bulletins are full of painful stories. The images of suffering men, women and children prick the conscious of the word, and are reminiscent of the suffering of Ethiopia in the 1983-1985 famine. And the situation is bound to get worse with the forces of the central government announcing that it will soon surround Mikelle, the Tigrayan region capital, a city with half-a-million inhabitants, with tanks and shell it with artillery. As the spokesman for the Ethiopian army has said, “There will be no mercy.”
The Tigrayans, as most Ethiopians, are Orthodox Christians. Since 1959 their Church has been independent, but before that it was headed by the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. Even now, the Ethiopian Church considers the Church of Alexandria as mother Church. The relationship between the Copts and the Ethiopians are deep. So, what have we done, as people and Church, to help our Ethiopian brothers and sisters in their humanitarian crisis?
During the 1980s famine, the world was not yet so connected, but now we know of the Ethiopians’ misery better. Also, in the 1980’s, the Coptic Church was still relatively poor. Now, the Coptic Church is much richer, and has branches across the world.
But do we see any help coming to the Ethiopian refugees from the Copts and their Church? No, not so far.
This is a call for the Copts and their Church to extend a hand of help to their Ethiopian brethren at the hour of their need.